How to get started with generative AI at your accounting firm

Most likely, you’ve noticed it too. AI is more than a buzzword—it’s becoming an increasingly important part of your business strategy. 

Future-ready firm leaders are already taking the leap: they’re following AI experts in the accounting industry, like  Jason Staats, Inbal Rodnay, and Chad Davis, they’re attending events, they’ve picked a favourite between ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

And now they’re leveraging AI to boost efficiency, automate repetitive tasks, and ultimately sharpen their competitive edge. And they’re reaping the benefits, saving up to 18 hours a month per employee.

You might be seeing all this happen right in front of you at breakneck speed, overwhelmed with all the things you could be doing.

So where do you start? How do you incorporate generative AI into your firm’s business model? How do you encourage your team members to use it effectively and responsibly?

It begins with a thoughtful, people-first implementation approach. 

Here’s how to execute it in five steps.

How to get started with AI at your accounting firm

1. Assess your team’s readiness

AI implementation is almost as cultural as it is technical.

Begin by evaluating your team’s awareness and comfort with AI. Are they curious? Are they cautious? While the majority of accounting professionals are optimistic about AI, only 19% believe that their peers share their excitement.

Conversation breeds confidence. As a leader, you need to encourage your team to embrace the change, and that starts by creating a safe space for everyone to voice their opinions. 

Consider hosting an honest and vulnerable discussion with your team, referred to by Brené Brown as a  ‘rumble’. 

Or you might like to share a digital feedback form with everyone, helping you to understand their sentiments in a less vulnerable environment. 

Or perhaps you’d prefer to conduct a skills audit to identify knowledge or confidence gaps.

Once you understand everyone’s level of excitement and experience, you can develop a suitable implementation plan.

2. Develop an AI policy

Before introducing AI tools into your workflows, create a clear AI policy. This should outline how AI is used in your firm, what data can be input into AI tools, and security protocols for handling sensitive information. 

A strong policy sets boundaries for AI usage, clarifies ethical concerns, and builds trust across your team and with clients. It’s important to understand and communicate to your team that an AI policy isn’t there to ‘police’ them, but to give them a safe and structured area to experiment responsibly.

To help develop your AI policy, you can use an AI policy generator for accounting firms, or you can draft it up yourself. To help you brainstorm what should be included, you can use a decision tree based on likely scenarios at your firm.

For example, this decision tree:

Example decision tree

Can be translated into this in your AI policy: 

Client information cannot be shared on public AI models unless it is anonymized or generic. This means data is not identifiable or sensitive, and therefore, if public knowledge, would not create vulnerabilities for yourself, the firm, or the client. When in doubt, ask your manager for clarification.

Leverage this opportunity to drive early buy-in and adoption by including your team in the brainstorming process. 

3. Train your team

Firms who use and train AI save up to 7 weeks per employee each year. That makes AI literacy an appreciating asset you can’t afford not to invest in.

Mary Delaney, CEO of Karbon, approaches training with a four-part framework:

1. Develop skill. Teach the technical steps of using AI tools, such as crafting prompts, building custom GPTs, and ultimately, how to make them act like an accountant.

2. Develop knowledge. Build awareness of what AI is, how to talk about AI, and how AI is being used across the accounting industry. 

3. Change activity. Not all work needs to be completed manually. Empower team members to automate tasks, streamline processes, and dive into meaningful work faster by using AI.

4. Change beliefs. With 28% of individual contributors and 20% of operations, technology, and administration staff concerned about job security, your team needs to hear it from you: AI won’t steal their jobs, it will just make them easier. 

Remember: this training is for you too. Lead by example, invest in your own AI literacy, and your people will follow suit.

4. Give your team ownership

People are far more likely to embrace change when they feel they have a hand in shaping it. 

Empowering your team to take ownership with AI will not only promote a smoother implementation process, but continuous innovation after the process is complete.

Giving your team ownership can look like:

• Creating an AI committee to oversee best practices and encourage company-wide engagement

• Recognizing and rewarding team members who find new, practical ways to use AI

• Registering staff to attend events about AI in accounting

• Baking AI into your performance reviews and professional development plans

• Promoting and sharing your team’s wins to a wider audience

Above all, involve your team as early and as much as possible in the implementation process. Invite them to test tools, share feedback, ask questions, and see that they have a direct influence on how AI is rolled out across the firm. 

Your people are more than passengers—give them the controls and let them chart the course.

5. Stay up-to-date

As AI continues to evolve, and the accounting industry with it, staying ahead means staying up-to-date. 

Create a knowledge-sharing channel on Slack or Microsoft Teams (or even a Karbon work item), where team members can share articles, test tools, and assess use cases—making their learning journey a collaborative one. The more people talk about and understand AI, the more they can find new solutions to old (and upcoming) problems.

So, attend events. Complete online courses in Coursera or Google. Follow thought leaders like Inbal Rodnay, Jason Staats, Chad Davis, Ashley Francis, and Kendra Vant for the latest insights on AI.

Curiosity means a commitment to ongoing learning. Lean into it.

You’re ready

The gap between AI-positive and traditional firms is growing, and 27% of accounting professionals are concerned that this gap will continue to widen.

So it’s not too late. But you need to make a start.

Don’t wait until you feel like an expert. You and your team can learn together. And while it might be tempting to see how things play out, the truth is that the more proactive you are now, the more prepared your firm will be for the future. 

Make the choice to start using AI at your firm today. Download the State of AI in Accounting Report 2025 to inform your next steps.